10/05/2009 @ 5:00PM

In Pictures: World's Most Well-Liked Countries

The list of the world’s most admired countries is derived from the 2009 Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index, released Monday. The authors surveyed 20,000 people from 20 countries–each chosen for geographic and economic diversity–over the summer of 2009. The survey asked respondents to rank 50 countries in six categories: governance, culture, products and services, people, tourism and immigration/investment.

9. Australia

(2008 ranking: 9)

“It’s a tourist destination to die for,” says Anholt. Not only has the country been helped by massive tourism campaigns, it has also been inadvertently promoted by classic movies like Crocodile Dundee. “It really did put Australia on the map,” he says. What’s more, it has a visually distinctive capital city (Sydney).